Rachel’s Blogs

For this week’s Eco Ventures we took a look at Songdo in South Korea.

Songdo is part of “Incheon Free Economic Zone” or IFEZ.

Incheon’s government describes a free economic Zone as an area of “minimised regulations and maximized business incentives and opportunities for foreign investment.”

Incheon spans an area of around 209 square kilometres – and there are three main areas under development; YeonJong, Cheong Na and Songdo.

Songdo occupies about one quarter of the total area.

When I first arrived in Songdo with my crew I wasn’t very sure what to expect.

But certainly I had not anticipated what greeted me – as I drove up to the hotel surrounded by a construction site.

It was quite awe inspiring to see an entire city being constructed from scratch.

Incheon has many ambitious plans – such as building the world’s second largest building – the Incheon Twin Tower a 151 storey building.
Not to mention almost doubling its port capacity from 81 berths to 151 berths.

But what is the most, dare I say, incredible thing about this city is the network infrastructure on which it is being built.

The government of Incheon is working alongside developer Gale International and Cisco Systems to create the network through the city infrastructure.

And on an individual basis, you can monitor in your home, how much electricity you are using, set targets for yourself, and the monitor will even give you suggestions of how you can cut that down. It will even help you compare to how much your neighbours have been using. I think it’s a great idea. But then I suppose the technology is in the hands of the beholder. It’s up to you whether you would actually take advantage of such technology.

And as I mentioned, the city itself is connected, so you can monitor traffic and find out when your bus is going to arrive, avoid congestion and so on. Think you’ve left the lights on at home, but no time to go back and switch it off – don’t worry – you can turn it off with your mobile phone!!

I think with technology such as this it really depends on your preference and how dependant you really want to be on such IT in your life and your home.

For me, the show apartment was very futuristic – and as I’m quite a private person, I think I would still prefer old-fashioned ways of reducing energy usage etc.

But as my interviewees were telling me it’s all about a change of mind set to embrace technology.

To find out more about Incheon and Songdo check out:

http://eng.ifez.go.kr/

And to have a look at some of the behind the scenes pic’s check out our facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=112400&id=104855928773&saved#/pages/ECO-VENTURES/104855928773?ref=sgm

Fantasic Crew!!

Me Enjoying Incheon!

For this week’s Eco Ventures I had a chat with Valeria Maioli – the man behind the lights of Singapore’s Formula One night race.

Following last year’s event – Mr Maioli told me that there were numerous enquiries into the amount of energy used by the race.

So this year what the Motor Sport Green Power company has decided to do is to build a power production centre to produce clean energy from sources such as solar, wind etc… then feed that energy back into the grid and offset the energy used during the F1 event.

Now the project plans to not just offset the notorious night race lights – but also just about every other energy guzzling factor related to the weekend long event.

Calculating the energy used will be a feat in itself…

And I’m a bit curious and interested to see how the actual project will pull together.

Mr Maioli stated that a location is yet to be confirmed for the centre which is targeted to start up next month…discussions with potential partners is still on going – as is the financial frame work of the project.

So let’s wait and see what happens…

But just to put it in perspective, last year’s race is estimated to have used some 500 megawatt hours of energy, which is the equivalent of 0.49% of what Singapore uses in a day based on 2007 consumption patterns.

The centre itself need not be near the race track – as the concept simply relies on the amount of energy being offset regardless of the location.

Going forward the plan is to have a totally green formula one championship – and more such centres globally to offset the energy usage of such races.

Interesting concept for a sport which is founded on burning rubber and fuel for speed… I wonder where the sport will go from here?

There are various other initiatives which the industry has undertaken.

For example the 2008 Japanese Grand Prix – all cars ran on green- grooved Make Cars Green tyres for the entire weekend. And further efforts have been made to bring biofuel into the races..

For a more in depth read on some past and present green racing initiatives take a peek at this site:

http://www.makecarsgreen.com/documents/MCG_Brochure_Spreads_13_11_08.pdf

Check out more pics on the Eco Ventures Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=110632&id=104855928773&saved#/pages/ECO-VENTURES/104855928773?ref=sgm

I’m doing this week’s Eco Ventures from Incheon, SOUTH KOREA!

One year after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, key economies across the globe are still struggling to get on a healthy growth path.

But that’s not the only challenge facing them.

Climate change is becoming an important issue – and this week, we look at the financial impact climate change will have on world economies.

It will potentially cost governments billions or even trillions of dollars to mitigate against the risks of climate change, be it floods, or droughts and so on.

But one thing struck me today – are we fully aware of the repercussions of climate change?

It’s easy for us to get caught up simply in the trend of going green, or excited about the savings in going green… and so on.

But have you read articles recently about the impact of the rising sea levels in the Maldives or the increasing number of vine and olive yards in the South of England?

The Earth is not exactly what it was ten years ago – and you will be astounded at how massive or critical the changes can be.

For example look at reports last week of two German cargo ships successfully sailing through the North Passage along Russia’s Arctic Coast for the first time – something that would have been inconceivable just 10 years ago.

Undoubtedly more ships will join them.

But question is, should we be happy or should we be scared?

So share your stories with me… what has changed for you…

For this week’s Eco Ventures I took a look at the shipping industry, and more specifically at a technology one company has created to help shipping firms reduce not one, not two, but all three major gasses that are emitted from ships. (carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and sulphur dioxide)

According to some shipping industry numbers, shipping accounts for about 80% of global trade. And some say, the pollution caused by one ship is equivalent to that of 50 cars.

I suppose, considering the size difference, there is no surprise there.

But I think an important takeaway from this week’s story is an interesting comment passed on to me some time back. While many in the industry perceive it to be costly to implement systems such as scrubbing systems to their vessels to reduce the number of harmful gasses and particles emitted, depending on investment or type of technology purchased, it only takes around one to three years to see a return on that investment. And this is not that much considering it can cut back carbon emissions by as much as 70 percent.

Now I wonder if any of us think of the environmental impact of all this – because at the end of the day, after cost cuts and bottom lines, that’s what it comes down to.

Some studies show that the shipping industry could be responsible for as many as 60,000 premature deaths from heart and lung cancer EVERY YEAR.

And not to mention the impact on flora and fauna in coastal cities – the rise of Co2 emissions is estimated to be related to the 60% drop in the global bee population.

Now putting that into consideration – can you imagine what a difference a 70% reduction would make?

Not just that, but there are also more simplistic ways for shipping firms to cut carbon emissions – such as slower speeds to use less fuel, “better” ship designs and so on.

I have to say though, I’m genuinely impressed by what I have seen from the shipping industry in efforts to teach an old dog new tricks. These things do take time – but at least industry bodies, firms and solution providers appear to be sailing in the right direction.

I wonder if we are. Do you consider the environmental implication when you step into a car – go on holiday – get on that plane – or go on that cruise?

Why not calculate your carbon footprint – it may surprise you!! There are a few sites on line that can help you do that.

Interestingly sprouting from this – there are a number of online sites (if you’re an online shopper like me) that claim to offer economical ways to make your delivery carbon neutral.

It’s well documented that the working environment within an office can have profound effects on an employee’s efficiency – and that adding plants to a working environment can boost productivity and reduce stress.

The same has been said for the introduction of natural light.

When you put two and two together you would think that more companies would leverage on this particularly hassle-free and low cost tool.

Well, more are indeed looking at the option.

And more firms are also looking at sustainable ways of constructing and retrofitting their buildings.

This is not just to cut energy costs. Some companies are indeed looking further down the road – at the longer term potential and attractiveness of the building, or what investors – tenants and future buyers might be attracted to.

And the one word that keeps creeping up is SUSTAINABILITY!

Whether it’s in the type of lights, air conditioning system or building materials.

And is it any wonder why? I mean look at the European Union today for example – it’s just begun a three year effort to phase out energy guzzling light bulbs…. And it is only a matter of time before most economies catch on to the trend.

Doesn’t it make sense now to be investing in green technologies for buildings?

For today’s Eco Ventures I went down and had a look at 71 Robinson Road – an “ecologically designed building”.

It has a number of recycled fittings such as ceiling boards, partition walls and drains.

And along with various technical gadgets, it also implements simple efforts such as full height glass windows to maximize day light in the office.

Commerz Real, the money behind the building, says that while some tenants may be apprehensive of the higher rentals of green buildings, energy and cost savings help to offset this.

And as more buildings go green and construction and costs of implementing green technologies become lower going forward, perhaps rentals for such buildings may also trend downwards.